NEW BEDFORD — Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter unveiled a new high-tech weapon for crime-fighters throughout the county last week — software that will allow residents to anonymously text or email information about criminal activity to their local police department or the district attorney's office.

Joined by a host of local law enforcement leaders, Sutter held a press conference at the New Bedford Police Department to discuss the beginning of the new era in Bristol County for information sharing and galvanizing public assistance to fight crime, called the "Text-a-Tip" program.

Residents can now send their tips by texting the code CALL50 to the phone number 274637, which spells CRIMES on most phones. Tips can also be sent via email to a secure server at www.tipsubmit.com, or through the district attorney's office website, www.bristolda.com, and will be forwarded to the appropriate local police department for investigation.

Witnesses to violent crimes in progress, or needing help for accidents or other emergencies, are still urged to dial 911 for immediate police assistance.

The district attorney said the Text-a-Tip program has been extremely successful in other areas of the country, and is already in use in Brockton and Springfield. All 20 of the police departments in the county have signed on to the new program, which he described as the latest in "21st century crime-fighting."

Area college police departments, including those at UMass Dartmouth, Bridgewater State University, and Stonehill College, are also participating in the program.

With the TipSoft SMS software, messages are encrypted and routed through secure servers in Canada, protecting all personal details of the informant— their phone number, identity or email address— completely secret, he explained.

Each message is confirmed, and the sender is assigned an "alias" and ID number that allows them to confidentially communicate further information to law enforcement, or reply to questions, Sutter said.

"In three years, with 1.6 million tips, no one has ever been identified," the district attorney said. Canadian law prohibits either law enforcement officials or defense attorneys from obtaining the source information by subpoena or other means, he stressed.

"There's no way we can get those (cell phone) numbers; on the website, it's the same thing ... we can't identify anyone," he said.

Sutter and police chiefs throughout the county encourage everyone to use Text-a-Tip to report information about any non-urgent illegal activity, such as unsolved cases, vandalism, theft, the sale and distribution of drugs, or information about crimes that are being planned in the community or schools.

"We hope it will also help us to continue to be successful in solving more cold cases," especially unsolved homicides, where witnesses are often fearful of being seen talking to police, Sutter said. "If people are afraid to give us information, we may never get (criminals) into the courtroom," he suggested.

Other law enforcement officials also hope the new program will spur more people to report crimes or information about crimes more regularly.

"We depend on the public to be our eyes and ears," New Bedford Police Chief Ronald Teachman noted. "We can be effective only if they trust us if we promise them anonymity and follow-up."

He lauded the district attorney for launching the program in Bristol County, and funding the annual cost of the software, about $3,000 a year.

Raynham Police Chief Lou Pacheco demonstrated how the program works through a slide show, having members of the audience send in texts to show how their identities are protected. "We couldn't find out who it is if we wanted to," and neither can defense attorneys for criminals, he said.

The show included one of the first tip forms provided via email by a tipster to Taunton police, identifying the name, address and vehicle used by a heroin dealer in that city.

"People are risking their lives, and the lives of their children by giving us this information," and they will be protected with the new program, Chief Pacheco stressed.

A continuing media campaign will be used to educate the public about the program, he said, in hopes it will soon become "a generic, non-emergency 911" for crime fighting.

District Attorney Sutter and his law enforcement partners believe the popularity of text messaging has created a significant opportunity for the public to help law enforcement agencies fight crime. "This Text-a-Tip program is aimed at a new generation," he noted. "This is a great tool."

"The ability for any citizen who owns a mobile phone to assist in crime solving is of great importance to communities globally, and we are excited to play such a pivotal role in the transmission of these crime-fighting tips" to local police, he added.

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